piggy in the middle

noun4

1. •
   A game where one group has to keep an object, normally a ball, within their group and away from another group or individual.
2. •
   Keeping something between one's own group, away from others.
3. •
   The player in that game from whom the object is kept away.
4. •
   A person caught in an awkward situation between two other people.

   • Millions of us who work in companies of all sizes are piggies in the middle. We are trussed up, torn between the old and the new, and just trying to make things work. — 2009